Seth Godin gives us a similar question to the “5 Whys” intended to clarify a future path:

We’re not very good at predicting the future.

Before we react, though, it might be worth asking “and then what happens,” five times.

If any of the steps involve, “and then a miracle happens,” or “we’ll deal with that later,” it might be worth taking a few more moments to reconsider the first step.

Our ability to punt tough decisions to a later time gets us in trouble more often than not. “And then what happens” is a simple strategy for managing risk.